


The Star of the New Year

by Ash0605



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Birthday, Canon Compliant, Chocolates and Sweets, Comedy, Dia is actually amazing oh my god, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, Late Night Driving, New Years, Post Season 2 Episode 10, Tags Are Hard, They gave her a sword so remember that she chooses to love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:01:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28486503
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ash0605/pseuds/Ash0605
Summary: The girls of Aqours said they were searching for stars on their late night drive, but in reality they knew that the brightest star was already sat in the back of the van.Happy Birthday Dia!
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	The Star of the New Year

Mari’s purple and white minivan thundered along Uchiura’s roads at a respectable 10mph. Sat in the back seat of the van, Dia’s eyes wandered between the view beyond her window and the other members sat in front of her, talking quietly and enjoying the view for themselves . The rain from earlier in the evening had finally cleared up, and the parting clouds above allowed a few easily noticeable stars to peek through. No matter where Dia’s eyes went, they always ended up resting on one of two things: her younger sister slumbering quietly next to her and the speedometer at the front of the van.

The latter place was where Dia’s eyes had wandered to in this moment, and she didn’t like what she saw. “Mari, you’re going too fast. Slow down.” She quietly reprimanded.

“I’m sorry Dia, but I didn’t quite catch that. Could you speak up?” Mari jested in a light hearted tone. Her voice was completely unfazed by the night time drive, despite being a beginner driver. The darkness outside didn’t completely obscure Dia’s view but was enough to put her off ever driving this late.

Dia rolled her eyes and breathed a light sigh. “Kanan, could you tell Mari to slow down?”

Kanan turned around and flashed a sympathetic smile. “She’s only doing 12. I don’t think that’s too fast.”

“It’s still higher than we agreed for this late at night.” Dia countered. She struggled with the urge to raise her voice, but thankfully didn’t wake Ruby up.

“I don’t feel uncomfortable with this speed.” Chika disagreed politely, turning around to face Dia. She posed the same question to Riko and You sitting next to her, who nodded their heads in agreement.

“I-I see.” Dia hung her head defeatedly, wishing she were obliviously asleep like Ruby.

“If it’s any comfort for you, I don’t plan to keep driving for too much longer.” Mari reassured, prompting Dia into lifting her head back up. “We just need to find a good spot. Actually on that note…” She turned to Kanan in the front passenger seat. “Do you know what time it is?”

“Keep your eyes on the road! I’ll check my phone.” Kanan reprimanded. As Mari returned her view to the road, Kanan reached into her bag for her phone and powered it on. She inhaled sharply upon seeing the time. “Its 10 minutes to midnight.”

“ _Oh my god_! I have to pull over now!” Mari pulled the van into one side and slammed down hard on the brake, bringing the van to a quick stop. The tires screeched against the road surface, and the cacophony woke Ruby from her slumber.

Mari leaned out of the driver’s seat as she turned to address the people sat in the back. “All right everyone! The grassy patch here isn’t the glamorous place I was envisioning, but we’ll have to make do! If you’re not too cold or tired, and you want to help us unload the stuff in the boot, that would be a great help!” Mari promptly turned to leave the van, after which the other members followed suit.

Before opening her own door, Dia turned to console Ruby. “Are you ok?” she asked softly. “We’re sorry to give you such a rude awakening.”

Ruby rubbed the corners of her eyes and yawned loudly, covering her mouth with her hands when she realized how loud she was. “I’m fine.” Ruby mumbled groggily. “It’s not past midnight, is it?”

“No its not. We’ve got about 10 minutes yet.”

“Thank goodness! I was so worried about sleeping through it and missing it.”

“You don’t have to worry about that now.” Dia reassured. “I’m going to go help the others unpack. You stay here and wake up a bit, ok?”

Ruby nodded sleepily. After giving her a warm smile of encouragement, Dia turned to leave the van, closing the door firmly behind her to keep the warmth inside. The grassy patch they had parked next to wasn’t glamourous, like Mari had already said, but it was flat and large enough for everyone to have enough space. Half of the field was surrounded by the tarmac of the road, while the other half was enclosed by a dense tree line. Dia navigated around to the back of the van, hearing the mud squelch beneath her feet, still saturated after hours of rainfall.

When Dia reached the boot of the van, Mari quickly moved up to greet her, obscuring her view of its contents and shoving a large pile of towels into her arms. “Diaaaa! Just the person I wanted to see! Could you be a darling and lay out these towels around the field so we can sit down?” Mari didn’t wait for Dia to give a response, turning Dia around and pushing her away as she adjusted to the weight of the towels in her arms. “Oh my god I knew you were a good friend Dia! We’ll be over with the rest of the stuff in a few minutes, ok?”

“Mari, wait a second-“

“Have fun with that Dia! Toodles!” Mari quickly turned on her heels and returned to help the others empty the van, leaving Dia with no room for rebuttal.

Sighing exasperatedly to herself, she made her way to an empty part of the field to do what Mari had asked. She started spreading the towels out to cover the grass and mud. The towels came in a wide variety of colours, from blues, greens and purples to reds, yellows and oranges. They were scented with a faint lavender smell and felt soft and luxurious in her arms, making Dia feel guilty for spreading them out over a muddy field. The gold lettered insignia of the Ohara branch of hotels was printed in one of the corners of each towel, leading Dia to conclude that Mari had pilfered them from the hotel she was staying at.

After Dia had finished laying the foundations, the other members approached with other items to place on top. Hanamaru, Yoshiko, You and Riko all carried sweets, which combined to make a copious pile on top of the towels. There were candies, chocolates and cakes of all kinds of flavors, though interestingly the vast majority of them were matcha flavored. Dia wasn’t complaining though, reaching for a candy from the pile and popping it into her mouth. She hummed happily to herself as she savored the sweet and nutty flavor.

“Dia are you already starting on the sweets!? You naughty girl!” Mari teased, a smug smile etched onto her face. She, along with Chika and Kanan, was carrying small electric lanterns to keep the area amply lit. Ruby was also accompanying them, giving her and the other first years a sleepy wave. “She couldn’t even wait for the rest of us!”

“Well, urm… There are… a lot of matcha flavored things there… and I didn’t think there was any harm in taking one.” Dia confessed guiltily, hanging her head downwards.

“I’m only joking Dia! Take as much candy as you want! That goes for all of you!” Mari looked both ways before quickly swiping a chocolate from the pile herself and popping it into her mouth. “That goes for me too!” she added cheekily.

After everything was brought from the van (and after Kanan reminded Mari to close the boot and lock it) the girls all took their seats in a circle around the pile of sweets. Dia and the first years sat on one side, while the second years and other third years sat on the other side. Mari was sat opposite Dia, and she clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright everyone!” She pulled out her phone and opened up the clock on her phone, showing the exact time in hours, minutes and seconds to everyone. “We’ve got 3 minutes to spare! Before 2015 ends, does anyone want to admit they have a crush on me?”

“I think Riko-chan might do.” Chika suggested, chuckling to herself. She shuffled towards You in anticipation of Riko’s reaction.

“Chika-chan! Stop it!” Riko exclaimed, throwing herself towards Chika and attacking her with a series of light shoves.

“I don’t think it’s anything to be afraid of, Lili! It’s incredibly hard to resist the charm and physique of one of my most powerful little demons!” Yoshiko chimed in, gesturing towards Mari with a pompous theatrical flair.

“Yocchan!”

“Ayyyy Yohane-chan! I can always trust you to wingman for me!” Mari joshed, returning Yoshiko’s pointed finger with one of her own. “Anyone else want to admit anything?”

Hanamaru rose her hand. “I don’t have a crush on you, but I do want to say thank you for the food!”

“That’s so pure! Thank you so much Hanamaru-chan!!” Mari exclaimed happily. “Anyone else? Remember, if you admit it in 2015 it stays in 2015!”

“I think we should all dress up as mandarin oranges and dance around.” Chika suggested quickly.

“Vetoed.” Dia countered sharply.

“I figured as much.” Chika sighed defeatedly. “To be clear, this stays in 2015, right?”

Mari nodded. “It does!”

“Thank goodness!”

“I don’t see why you’d have to worry about that.” You laughed. “I’d say that’s quite typical of you.”

“You can admit anything you want.” Mari stated, taking a quick glance at the time on her phone before continuing. “It’ll stay in 2015 and it might be really funny.”

Yoshiko rose her hand. “Permission to breach the _Guilty Kiss Code of Hon-_ “

“Don’t you dare!” Mari snapped. “Anyone else?”

Yoshiko remained unfazed with her hand in the air. “I’m not saying anything personally, because that is prohibited by the code, but I think that anyone with a funny memory of Mari should say it now.”

“Alright. I see what you’re trying to do, so I’ll do it for you! Do you remember when I taught you about America? I ate 25 hamburgers during the demonstration!” Mari admitted pridefully to an audience of shocked expressions.

“She really did, zura…” Hanamaru shivered. “I still think about that sometimes.”

“So! In the light of this new information, does anyone want to admit they have a crush on me?” Mari asked. She was greeted with absolute silence. Not even the stereotypical crickets made a sound. Dia made a point of rolling her eyes. “All right then! I see how it is! I would deal with the aftermath of this information, but we’ve got 20 seconds until the New Year!” Mari held up her phone for the others to see, and everyone instantly grew more excited. “Let’s all count down together, OK?”

She raised her hand into the air like a conductor wielding a baton and used it to signal to the others when to start. With 10 seconds to go, she brought her hand back down, and everyone joined together. “10!”

“9!”

“8!”

“7!”

“6!”

“5!”

“4!”

“3!”

“2!”

“1!”

“Happy New Y-“

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIA!!”

Dia’s hands instinctively moved to her ears to shield them from the impact of 8 loud voices, but after a few seconds they drifted down to cover her blushing cheeks. “Oh guys… You didn’t have to do this for me…!”

“Sure, but you deserve a celebration like this. Hell, you deserve so much more, considering all the things you do for us!” Mari justified. She turned towards Ruby. “Ruby-chan, do you still have Dia’s present?”

“I do!” Ruby reached behind her and pulled out a medium sized wrapped box. Dia didn’t have time to wonder how Ruby got it here without her noticing before she felt its weight in her hands. “Happy Birthday, big sis!”

Dia smiled warmly, patting Ruby on the head affectionately. “Thank you, Ruby. Actually, I need to extend that to everyone. Thank you all so much.” Feeling everyone’s smiles and expectant eyes on her, she turned her focus to the gift in her hands. It was messily wrapped with red and green wrapping paper and covered with pictures of flowers and petals. “I must ask though, did Mari wrap this?”

Mari gasped out loud, placing a hand to her chest. “You wound me, Dia! Kanan wrapped it this year! My wrapping skills have gotten better since I went to America!” Mari argued defensively. “My rapping skills have also improved, but that’s not entirely relevant.” she added quietly as an aside.

“Ah, I see.” Dia turned to Kanan, admittedly taken aback by the revelation. “You did put in a good effort though.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not that hurt by it.” Kanan reassured, placing her hands behind her head. “What’s the point of putting effort into wrapping it when you’re just going to tear it off?”

“I could respond to that, but you all probably want me to open this, so I’ll do that instead.” She started to tear open the gift, revealing a cardboard box underneath. The anticipation she was feeling rose as she opened her present, reaching a crescendo when she carefully lifted the lid off the box. She found herself staring starry eyed into a box filled with small figurines of the members of µ’s.

With wide eyes, she lifted a figurine of Nico and Hanayo out of the box before excitedly addressing the others. “Are these for all the members of µ’s?” she asked in a high pitched voice.

“All of them except for Eli. According to Ruby-chan, you already have one of her in your room.” Mari explained matter-of-factly.

“That’s amazing! That means I have the full set! Was this Ruby’s idea?!”

“It was! And it was a way better idea than the sword I was planning to get you! We all pitched in some of our money to pay for them!” Mari continued.

“Thank you all so- Wait.” Dia narrowed her eyes at Mari, her voice returning to its usual pitch. “A sword?”

“Yeah, a sword! Though it might end up being next years present, so I probably shouldn’t have told you.” Mari placed a hand behind her head and stuck her tongue out cheekily. “Whoops!”

After a few seconds, Dia let out a light laugh, unable to remain serious. “I suppose I should have seen something like that coming. I’ll cross that bridge when it comes to it.” She held the box tight to her chest and smiled warmly at the girls sitting around her. “Thank you all so much. You are all so good to me.”

In that moment, Dia felt the happiest she had felt in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

>  ~~Happy New Year~~ Happy Birthday Dia! Dia is such a good character, her birthday gets to start off the year! I literally can't think of anything else important that happens on January 1st. ~~In all seriousness though, Happy New Year Everyone!~~
> 
> My love and appreciation for Dia has skyrocketed since I got into the series, and as a result writing this was a ton of fun! Season 2 Episode 10 happens on January 1st but doesn't acknowledge Dia's birthday at all, so writing this felt like writing a wrong of sorts. I don't hold it against them though, especially since they've just given Dia a sword in her newest solo song.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! If you have any comments or feedback feel free to leave them here! If you want to reach out on twitter feel free to do so at @ash060500
> 
> I hope you have a good rest of your day and I wish you the best in staying safe! Lets hope 2021 isn't an absolute dumpster fire.


End file.
